


The Quirks of Parenting

by Poke Kei (Maki_Kei)



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters: Diamond & Pearl & Platinum | Pokemon Diamond Pearl Platinum Versions
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Headcanon, IronShipping, M/M, Other, Parent-Child Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-21
Updated: 2015-10-21
Packaged: 2018-04-27 10:01:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5044012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maki_Kei/pseuds/Poke%20Kei
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Roark is oblivious to his father Byron and his other father(?) Riley's relationship</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Quirks of Parenting

**Author's Note:**

> Just a short (cute?) blurb on my Byron and Riley being Gay dads head canons.
> 
> I just really love oblivious, socially awkward baby Roark.

Roark whipped his cape around his shoulders, attempting to tie it as he fumbled with the unsuccessful knot that he grasped in his chubby little hands. Upon failing, Riley decided to intervene.

"Here Roark, let me see." He asked, still using as formal a tone as ever, despite talking to a child. He tenderly looped the laces of the cape into one another until it was fastened securely around Roark's neck.

"How come you're so good at stuff like this?" Roark pondered aloud. At this, Riley let out an opulent chuckle.

"What ever do you mean?" He asked.

"Well, my daddy can't do any of the kinds of things you can do, like tying my shoes and my cape or doing my hair. You don't have any kids, so how come you're so good at it?" Roark interrogated.

"Well, you see Roark, I've always loved kids. Ever since I was a teenager, I've always known I wanted to have them." Riley answered.

"Then why don't you?" Roark was too young to understand the rules of the world quite yet. Riley had always adored that kind of innocence.

"Well, I kind of do, I've got you." Riley said, but with the way Roark rumpled his nose at the answer he could tell the little one wasn't satisfied with just that. "Well you see Roark, there are some things you won't understand until you're older, and that's just how life works. When you're smitten with someone, why don't you come back and we will have this conversation again, hm?" Riley finished. Roark let out a loud huff of air, and folded his arms across his small chest.

"What does that even mean?" He asked.

"You'll see." Riley replied.

"Why do you adults always gotta be so cryptic!" Roark shouted as he threw the full stubby length of his arms into the air. Riley burst into breathy laughter and realization at the prospect of Roark picking up on his vocabulary. It took him only a moment to figure out that the small redhead could've only gotten such a word from no other than Riley himself, and at only five years old he'd even used it in the correct context. If it weren't for the fact he were trying to explain the formalities of it in the first place, Riley would have said something fatherly in the moment such as, 'you're definitely taking after me,' or the like.

Riley ruffled the boy's mess of red hair, and upon stirring up the scent of it, he became flooded with emotions and couldn't help but grab Roark up into as close a bear hug as the lanky man could manage. "You're the cutest little thing I've ever seen by far, that's why!" Though Roark had long since forgotten the context of Riley's comment, he decided not to ask anymore questions.

Riley, of course, meant that Roark was basically already his son anyway so why did he need to have kids? Besides, he was as happy as anyone could ever dream to be in his small awkward family.

* * *

Byron rubbed his thumb into his temple, though this accomplished nothing as his brows could not bear to furrow further, and there was little hopes of his face relaxing anytime in the near future. That, of course, was only unconditional if not for Riley's presence in the room.

"If you keep on like that you'll get wrinkles before you even hit your prime." The younger man commented on the angry way his companion stooped over the stack of paperwork of which Riley couldn't even begin to imagine the level of tedium associated with them.

Byron's head snapped up from that which he was so absorbed, face relaxing immediately as his gaze fell upon his culprit.

"Oh, Riley, I didn't even see you walk into the room. You surprised me." Byron said as he whisked up his papers, tapping them into an orderly fashion against the table. Riley chuckled, leaning forward onto Byron's desk and cradling his chin in the palms of his hands.

"Of course not, you're too serious all the time to notice things until they're in plain sight." Riley joked. He knew Byron was busy with his gym and the mines, he just liked to tease his brash lover.

"That's not...entirely true." Byron said, realizing he couldn't fully deny it.

"Is that so? In that case, can you tell what I want from you right now?" Riley asked in a flirtatious tone, the corners of his mouth turned up in mischievous conduct.

"Well, since I'm apparently too serious, maybe you'll just have to spell it out for me." Byron, though he could see Riley's obvious intent, evaded the matter at hand. Riley lay his head down against the chilled desktop, closing his eyes.

"You're the only one missing out here. You should learn that the stubborn one always ends up with the short end of the stick." He said, cheek gently pressing against the cool linoleum. As soon as he felt the broad palm of the bigger man's hand against his shoulder, Riley relished in the knowledge that he'd won yet another trivial dispute. This was among the never ending list of small things he enjoyed about being in love.

Riley turned to look at Byron, his eyes full of childish fulfillment. This achieved him a throaty bought of laughter, proceeded by calloused fingertips to brush away the rebellious strands of hair that always managed to find their way into his eyes.

Riley stood and perched himself atop Byron's desk. "Alright, alright. You've earned it." He said, as if talking to a dog. Byron placed his hands on the desk to either side of him as the former leaned in for a brazen kiss.

Right in that moment, who should they expect but a young, fiery tempered ginger to fling open the door in a fit.

"Rileeey, you promised to-" Roark stopped mid sentence, and immediately slammed the door shut again.

"Caught red handed." Riley snapped for comic effect, but Byron wasn't laughing. They both sat in silent embarrassment for a moment, contemplating their fate. Little did they know how oblivious the small individual was, or they could have just brushed it off as nothing.

Riley exited the room a moment later to find Roark sitting outside.

"Er, sorry Roark. I-" Riley began.

"You and my daddy finally done with whatever you were doing? Good, we can play like you promised now." Roark finished the interruption, not even pausing for a second so Riley could fit in a word edgewise. He was almost bewildered really, did this kid seriously not understand when it was so obvious?

'Well, considering his massive social anxiety and the little amount he actually does understand, I guess in retrospect this doesn't surprise me in the least bit.' Riley concluded to himself, before heading off on another one of Roark's wild adventures.

* * *

Roark had grown up with Riley as his other "dad" his whole life. The only problem was, he'd been oblivious to the fact that dad meant Riley was romantically inclined to his biological dad; the reason that had him currently hiding under his bed.

When he was five, Roark couldn't have possibly discerned the difference between "parents", and "in love with." Everybody had parents in some form or another, that was the fact of life, it had just never occurred to Roark that parents were only married because, usually, they loved each other. That and-unlike when he was five and all the kids in his class thought it cool to have more than one dad-the fact that unless your parents happened to include a "mom" and a "dad", it was considered "abnormal".

Riley was currently trying to coax his ten year old out from under the bed while Byron entertained in his fit with the teacher on the subject of bullying. "Roark, no matter what the other kids say, you're perfect just the way you are." Were some of the words of Riley's tactics.

"But papa, they called you and dad weird. They said you guys were going to get cursed when you die." Roark sobbed into the carpet from his dust bunny retreat.

"Hey now, that isn't true." Riley responded gently.

"How do you know? I don't want you guys to be in troub-" Roark stopped talking as he was startled by the intensity in Byron's booming voice.

"If they have a problem with me and my boyfriend they can come to us, for Arceus' sake, leave the ten year old out of this! If you don't protect my child, I'm sure as Hell not letting him be under your care!" Byron shouted into the phone.

"Roark, listen." Riley began as their attention regrouped. "I think things only happen if you believe them to be true. So all you have to do is trust me when I say this: don't believe anything those kids at school say to hurt you."

After that, Roark finally emerged. "Really?" He asked tearfully.

"Really." Riley pulled Roark into his lap and stroked his hair until the small boy fell asleep.

When Byron finally arrived at the scene, his two favorite people were snuggled into each other's warmth, their chests rising and falling rhythmically to the sounds of their sleeping. The sight made him happy, like the calm after a storm, and he decided to tucker down and joined them. After all, that's what they'd do to get through all of the hard times, in the past, and from here on out as well.

Though they included all the hardships, Byron and Riley loved the quirks of being parents.


End file.
